Page 18 of The Accidental Ghost

“Do you want her to see you, Ralph?” He could prevent Hazel from seeing her. It would save her some shock, and possibly a nightmare or two.

Seeing her best friend as a ghost, not to mention the very pale Nina and her friends, could be too much for Hazel to handle, thereby creating even more trauma for Ralph. And he didn’t want her to be any more stressed than she already was, or they’d never find out why she wasn’t taking her place in the afterlife.

And…he had a question or two of his own. He hadn’t said anything to the women, but he’d never had such clear communication with a ghost before.

As far back as Shamus could remember, he’d been able to see them as plain as day, he could touch them—which was always a surprise to his grandmother—but he’d never had one communicate so clearly.

As though Ralph’s earthly body had never even left this plane. She spoke in complete sentences and was fully aware of her surroundings, remembered everything about her life up until her death.

Almost never, in all the years he’d been doing the spirit world’s bidding, had he met a ghost who was so…aware.

She was rare—and that troubled him. How could he help her get to where she needed to go if Ralph wasn’t your average ghost?

Trying to focus on his surroundings, in complete disarray, possibly from a struggle with her assailant, he saw Ralph bite her soft lip—full lips he’d caught himself staring at more than once—as though she wasn’t sure how to answer his question. Then she shook her head, the ribbons of her ebony hair rippling down her back.

She had, as Marty had pegged it, this boho vibe he found incredibly attractive. From the lines of colorfully beaded bracelets along her forearms, the multiple hanging necklaces draped over her breasts, to her flowing blue peasant top, fluffy cardigan, and swishy skirt that grazed the tops of her ballet slippers, she was insanely appealing.

Ralph gripped his upper arm. “No. No, no. I can’t explain this to Hazel, Shamus. Not now, when I don’t even know what’s happening. I don’t want to frighten her. It’s not just that I’m a ghost—it’s that ghosts actually exist. There’s so much more to it than just me. It’s a whole world of explanations she might not be ready for…”

He got the impression that Ralph thought about everyone else before she thought of herself, and she did it often. That also didn’t mesh with the idea she was still here on this plane. If her heart was as pure as it appeared, why hadn’t she gone up?

Up being the word almost everyone used to describe their idea of Heaven, or what they considered a better place than the earthly plane.

He was having some trouble classifying her ghost status, and that no one in the afterlife had appeared anywhere around her, even if they didn’t speak directly to him, unnerved him a great deal.

“Shamus! Hide me before she sees me. Please!” she whispered, now inching away. “I don’t want her upset.”

Shamus nodded, tucking Ralph behind him. “Understood.” He reached into his back pocket to sprinkle a different fairy dust on her, reversing her visibility, while Nina was giving the poor woman hell.

“Who the fuck are you?” she sneered at the short blonde in a puffy red coat, with fogged glasses and a red nose from the cold, standing beside an oddly shaped, toppled table.

Hazel grabbed what appeared to be the first thing she could find with her trembling fingers—a kid’s puzzle—raising it high above her head. “Who the fuck are you?”

If Ralph was meek, her best friend Hazel was an exploding firecracker. She was easily ten inches shorter than Nina, but she’d reared right back up at her, wooden puzzle in hand, ready to take a whack at the vamp.

“You must be Hazel,” Shamus said easily, giving her a smile as he stepped between the two women.

The expression on her round face went instantly suspicious as she pushed her glasses up her nose, her eyes scanning his.

“Who are you, and how do you know my name?”

Shit. Yeah, Ransom, how did you know her name?

“I had a picture of us in my classroom, on my desk, from when we went to Amish country. I talked a lot about our friendship. Tell her you’re the parent of a student. They knew her as Ms. Ronkowski,” Ralph whispered

Before he held out his hand to her and explained, he pulled Nina tight to his side. She wasn’t gonna like what he was about to do, but he was used to situations like this. When he was poking around, looking for answers to questions no one living appeared to have, he knew how to pretend to be someone he wasn’t.

Nina struggled a bit, but he gripped her waist, forcing her to stay close.

He held out his hand to Hazel. “Ms. Tucci talked about your friendship often. She had a picture of the two of you in Amish country, on her desk at school. As a result, our son came home with plenty of stories. We’re very familiar with you, aren’t we, honey?”

Nina grunted, but she played along. Reluctantly, but she played. “Uh, yeah, honey.”

“Anyway, I’m Shamus, and this is my wife, Nina. Sorry about my…” He cleared his throat. “Sorry about my wife’s overzealous reaction. We came to pay our respects to Ms. Tucci on our way back from dinner and heard a noise inside the store. Before she became my blushing bride and the mother of our children, my beautiful partner in connubial bliss was a police officer.”

Nina glared at him, but thankfully she nodded her head. “Yeah. Sorry I went all ape-shit on you. Ex-cop ears and all.”

Hazel didn’t look like she was buying what Shamus was selling, refusing to put her hand in his. Her gaze remained suspicious in the dark store.

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